China restricts teaching of MBBS in English to 45 colleges amid big surge of students from India

PTIOct 09, 2019

With a record number of students from India enrolling to study medicine in China, the country's education ministry has authorised only 45 of the local medical colleges from among over 200 to enrol foreign students to teach MBBS in English.

Chinese universities have witnessed enrolment of a record number of Indian students to study medicine. China attracts foreign students, specially from India and other Asian countries, due to its affordable courses compared to institutions in the US, the UK and Australia. At present over 23,000 Indian students are studying different courses in Chinese universities, as against over 28,000 from Pakistan. In all, nearly 5 lakh foreign students are presently studying in Chinese universities. Of the 23,000 Indian students, over 21,000 have enrolled to study MBBS, which is an all-time high.

Considering the growing interest among Indian students about Chinese medical courses, the Indian Embassy said the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) has approved 45 medical colleges in the country to teach MBBS course in English to foreign students. The Chinese MOE has also clarified that universities which are not in the list of the 45 universities should not admit foreign students for the MBBS programme to be taught in English, a press release issued by the Indian Embassy said. "It has been clearly mentioned by the Chinese MOE that teaching MBBS course under a bilingual (English/Chinese) model is strictly forbidden. The MOE has also informed that the list of universities will be regularly reviewed and updated in due course," it said.

"The Chinese MOE has also stressed in its notification that universities which are not in this list of 45 universities can only recruit foreign students for medicine course in Chinese language," it said.

"The embassy is, however, not aware of any comprehensive list of universities that may have been authorised to offer medicine courses in Chinese for foreign students. We will continue to make efforts with the Chinese MOE to obtain such a list, if it exists," it said.

The Chinese MOE has not issued any other specific lists of universities relevant for the teaching of medicine. Accordingly, the more than 200 universities which cannot teach MBBS course to foreign students was removed from the website of the Indian Embassy to prevent any confusion, the press release said.

Besides the 45 colleges, Indian and other foreign students were enrolled for years into the 200-odd colleges. They will continue to study in English/Chinese languages. Now the new rule applies to new recruits in the 45 selected colleges to study MBBS in English language. Though Chinese universities rushed to enrol foreign medical students, specially India, they have struggled to hire quality professors to teach in English.

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